February 18 to 20
Paraparaumu to Auckland and back again
February 18
Auckland
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A very early start. Valerie drove me the five minute trip to Kapiti Airport, where I joined a few other hardy souls waiting for the milk flight to Auckland on Air Chathams. At about the right time, we boarded - 35 seats and 35 people - did a circuit of the airport and took off to the North. All very efficient so far.
When we landed it was dull and drizzly outside. My bags took a while to arrive and it was drying up when I was waiting for the bus.
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This arrived after about ten minutes and delivered me to Papatoetoe Station in another ten minutes. It was now starting to brighten up. By the time I reached Glen Innes, 20 minutes later, it was quite nice.
I knew John would be late to collect me so I found a coffee and a sandwich round the corner for breakfast. The journey to Glen Innes had taken about 50 minutes since I collected my bag at the airport. Not at all bad. It would have taken almost as long to drive it.
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After completing some chores, we sat around the house until lunchtime before driving down the hill to St Heliers for an excellent lunch in a café. By now, the sun was shining brightly and the weather was glorious. The beach at St Heliers looked as good as ever. The afternoon vanished in a haze as John did some computer things and I lay on the sofa recovering from my 05.45 wake up call. I can’t really claim jet lag but I was rather tired. |
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In the evening, we drove across the city to Remuera for dinner with Peter, Amanda and, most importantly, Edward. He was twelve weeks old when I last saw him and he is now larger but just as delightful. He loves everybody and is a constant source of entertainment. We had a good meal, sitting outside in glorious, still, evening weather.
February 19
Auckland
I would have slept well had I not been woken several times by a mosquito. This often happens in Auckland. It didn't bite me however, but buzzed around a lot, making me rather apprehensive.
After breakfast we drove into a slightly cloudy morning and up the North West Motorway for nearly an hour until we reached Hobsonville. This is an area dominated by two airfields, a military one and a small flying club type one. It is an area of huge development, with new houses by the thousand. We negotiated lots of new roads and finally descended to the harbour.
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Catalina Bay was home to an old flying boat hanger, which has just been converted into a micro brewery and food complex. It is all new but looked to have been well designed and should be a good entertainment centre. The basic structure of the old hanger was about the only sign of the original building.
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We lunched on coffee and a meat platter, pates, bresaola etc and enjoyed ourselves. I ignored the brewery, which was a shame, but I drank too much yesterday. Throughout our stay, the place was busy and there was a steady stream of new arrivals.
After lunch, we made the short walk to the harbour, checked out the ferry wharf, and looked at the other buildings. It is an attractive area and well worth another visit.
After a spin round some of the extensive new housing developments, which looked pretty good, we set off home again. This took about an hour, and we arrived back at about 15.00 for a cup of tea and a relax on the deck in the warm sunshine.
Dinner was at a "Spanish" restaurant in the village down the hill. I ate there last year and it was very good. This year was the same. The place has been in the news as the owners, from the Ukraine, are being threatened with removal by the Immigration Authorities. Apparently, in spite of owning a successful business employing over 20 people and making large profits, they have failed to dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s. Madness.As a footnote, on the day I transcribed this page of the diary, it was announced that they have been given a stay of execution for another year, largely because of a huge campaign by the locals. |
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February 20
Auckland to Paraparaumu
No overnight mosquitos so I slept well. John was working today so we left at 09.00 for the city. He dropped me by the side of the road and, having time to kill, I immediately stopped at a small, temporary looking café for a very good coffee.
One of the topics of interest in New Zealand these days is the electric scooters, many owned by the Lime company, which are proliferating in some of the cities, particularly in Auckland.They cruise the pavements, helmets are not required - unlike bicycles - and the number of injuries is rising at a good pace.Right: A pop up cafe |
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My main task for the morning was to visit HSBC to give them some information about my tax status. To say that they were welcoming would be an overstatement and I achieved nothing. I will have to do it all electronically when I am back in the UK. Once out of the bank and once I had stopped muttering about it, I crossed the road to the ferry terminal. Lots of people, boats and water. It was sunny, warm and still, perfect for sitting and watching the water.
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I did exactly that, took photos of the beach, the boats, the fishermen and The Cloud. This is similar to Slough Bus Garage and was built a few years ago. I have no idea how much it is used but it is an interesting shape.
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Next to it is an old wharf building, which now appears to be some form of gallery and is occupied by fancy lights and a silver man. I tried to take photos through the window which may or may not work.
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... in a posh arcade |
I crossed the road to the city centre again, braving the road works etc for the new railway extension, wandered through the shops and finally had a rather classy coffee in one of the few (only?) posh arcades.
I also visited the ANZ bank, home to my other New Zealand accounts. The welcome I received there was in marked contrast to the one I received at HSBC!
The Airport Bus was waiting, I climbed aboard and we departed a few minutes later. The bus worked well, filling up steadily as we moved across the city. The public address was almost inaudible and the free wifi wouldn't accept log-ins from non-New Zealand addresses. Both useful on an airport bus! Interestingly, when I boarded the airport bus in Melbourne, also powered by Vodafone, I had a similar problem.
The journey to the airport took about an hour as I had anticipated and I located the Air Chathams check-in desk with no difficulty. I then found a sandwich and a quiet corner in which to eat it.
At the allotted time, we were called to board and had a long walk to the far end of the terminal and across the tarmac. Once aboard, we were soon airborne and heading South through whispy cloud and blue skies. On the way up, the plane had been full. The mid-afternoon flight, however, was only half full, 18 of the 35 seats being occupied. A shame as it was a comfortable, efficient and punctual service.Right: A comfortable ride home |
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We landed on schedule, Valerie met me and drove me home. Once there, we did the normal early evening shores before departing to the bowls club for a fancy dress evening. I beat a hasty retreat and went into the village in search of a sandwich. I had, alas, forgotten that many of the food outlets along the front are day time cafes and don't serve evening meals. The best option, therefore, was Marina Thai, which is good.
They started badly by having run out of Thai beer but the Riesling, I had instead, was very presentable. The basic Villa Maria, I think.
I was feeling rather melancholy this evening. After two friends dying in the last fortnight, one of my best doggie friends in New Zealand died this morning. Not a good start to the holiday and even worse for the families involved.
The fish cakes weren't brilliant but were OK. The stir fry had lots of vegetables and was also OK. Not amazing but good enough.
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I walked along the front in the twilight and arrived at the Bowling Club to find lots of people in fancy dress playing bowls. I watched until they finished, joined my friends in the bar for a beer and we returned home.